(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process of reconstructing and regenerating bone and tooth material and more particularly to a process of producing artificial bone and tooth material which is useful in surgery and dentistry and which is similar in its structure and composition to natural bones and teeth, and to products obtained by said process.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
As is known, bones and teeth are composed of a matrix of organic material consisting of collagenous fibrils and a binding substance of mucopolysaccharides as well as of the inorganic component, namely calcium phosphate in the form of hydroxy apatite. The organic matrix is formed by filiform molecules arranged parallel to each other. Furthermore, the tissue is traversed by numerous microscopic capillaries which are oriented vertically to said filiform molecules.
It is known to subject animal bones to a treatment so that they can be transplanted to other living animal bodies and also to human beings without substantial deleterious effects. For this purpose the animal bone material is maintained in a refrigerated state in a bath containing an antibacterial or antifungal agent and a blood component from the same species animal from which the bone material is derived, such as blood plasma or blood serum. The thus preserved bone material can be used for splints, bridging elements, or grafts. It can furthermore be removed from the organic liquid and pulverized. The pulverized bone is then blended with plasma clotting substance as a binder to yield a paste. This bone powder paste is useful as bed or filler between the bone sections to be grafted and also in dentistry as a filler for dental cavities and the like. It was found, however, that fequently grafts of bone material preserved in this manner were rejected by the body.
RAPKIN in U.S. Pat. No. 2,968,593 describes a method of preparing inorganic bone material by heating animal bone material in a liquid to a temperature from about 80.degree. C. to about 100.degree. C., drying the heated bone material, substantially defattening it with a fat extracting solvent, and removing the organic matrix from the defattened bone material, for instance, by extraction with ethylene diamine to obtain the inorganic matrix. Such an inorganic bone material which is free of organic matter is used for transplantation from an animal of one species to another species without any adverse effect. However, due to the absence of the organic matrix the inorganic bone material is of relatively low strength and difficult to handle.